Wednesday, May 26, 1999 | 11:27 a.m.
The leading suspects in Ted Binion's murder are looking to add famed Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz to their defense team.
Bill Terry, who represents Binion's girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, in the homicide investigation, said Tuesday that Dershowitz has been retained.
But Steve Wolfson, who's defending Montana contractor Rick Tabish, said today that Dershowitz has yet to confirm to him whether he will join the defense team.
"I'm waiting to hear whether he has agreed to work with Mr. Terry and me on our defense," Wolfson said.
As of this morning, Wolfson said, he had not received a phone call from the celebrity law professor.
A Dershowitz aide at Harvard said from Boston Tuesday that Dershowitz has "no comment on the case."
Dershowitz, who has a reputation for specializing in appeals and constitutional issues, has been involved in numerous high-profile cases over the years. Among his clients were O.J. Simpson, Mike Tyson, Leona Helmsley and Claus Von Bulow.
Dershowitz also has written several books on criminal defense tactics and is a frequent television legal analyst.
Wolfson would not say what role the defense team envisioned for Dershowitz. In the Simpson murder trial, Dershowitz served as a behind-the-scenes defense strategist.
Both Wolfson and Terry agreed to represent Tabish and Murphy within the past several days, after their original lawyers abruptly withdrew from the case without explanation.
The new lawyers enter the case as law enforcement authorities are said to be moving closer to making arrests.
Homicide Lt. Wayne Petersen told the Sun Tuesday that the decision on whether to seek criminal charges now is in the hands of the district attorney's office.
Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, of the elite Major Violators Unit, has been assisting detectives in the probe since December.
Binion's body was discovered at his home Sept. 17, 1998, next to an empty bottle of the prescription sedative, Xanax. Drug tests later found he had lethal amounts of Xanax and heroin in his system and the coroner ruled his death a homicide.
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